The Democratic leader in the House at the time, Nancy Pelosi, praised Walz’s selection and referred to him as a genuine heartland Democrat.
As her running mate to oppose the Donald Trump-JD Vance Republican ticket, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, a former congressman, army veteran, teacher, football coach, and leader who hails from a small town in the American Midwest, has been selected by Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for US president.
On Tuesday morning Eastern Time, Harris made her decision known on Instagram, writing, “I am happy to announce that I’ve asked @timwalz to be my running mate. One of the things about Tim that really struck me is how deeply he believes in the need to defend middle-class families. It is intimate.
Until three weeks ago, Walz, the head of the Democratic Governors Association, was largely unknown on the national scene. He used his own background and knowledge of the White working class in middle America, which is a crucial arena for the political struggle between liberals and conservatives, to craft a compelling counternarrative against Republicans.
He started calling the Republican leadership “weird” for some of their more extreme statements, combining wit and sharpness in a way that has now become a staple of Democratic messaging.
Beyond the label, though, Harris’s Midwest roots gave him credibility and authority to challenge the Republican far-Right, which has run on a platform of characterizing Democrats as largely out-of-touch coastal elites and characterizing Harris as a “radical” or “San Francisco liberal”.
Even though Minnesota has historically supported Democrats in presidential elections, Trump’s choice of Vance, the author of a book on the cultural and economic concerns of small-town middle America, was intended as a signal to the working-class voters in the exact wider belt that Walz comes from.
At a rally in Philadelphia, the city where Harris was scheduled to hold a campaign event later on Tuesday, Vance declared, “I think what Tim Walz’s selection says is that Kamala Harris has bent the knee to the far left of her party.”
Providing a brief overview of Walz’s life story, Harris seemed to be attempting to highlight his profound heritage and difficult upbringing. He mentioned that Walz was raised in a small Nebraskan town, spent summers working on a farm, became dependent on social security after his father passed away too soon, and joined the National Guard, serving for 24 years.
According to Harris, Walz then utilized state funds intended for veterans to attend college and pursue a career in teaching. In addition, he held positions as the football coach and the Gay-Straight Alliance advisor at the Minnesota school where he was employed.
I share this background with you because, in addition to being impressive in and of itself, you can clearly see how it influences his record. He collaborated with Republicans to approve funding for infrastructure. He lowered working families’ taxes.
He enacted legislation to give Minnesotan families access to paid family and medical leave. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, he made Minnesota the first state in the nation to enact a law guaranteeing constitutional protections for abortion. Additionally, because he is a passionate hunter, he passed a bill mandating background checks for all gun purchases, Harris wrote in her post.
For more than ten years, Walz served as a ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives, representing a conservative Minnesota district that had only twice been won by a Democrat. The Democratic leader in the House at the time, Nancy Pelosi, praised Walz’s selection and referred to him as a genuine heartland Democrat.
Hours after becoming the official nominee of the Democratic party and receiving the unanimous endorsement of party delegates, Harris made her decision. Additionally, it coincided with some polls indicating Harris is beginning to pull ahead of Trump—a significant shift in just two weeks from when Trump had a commanding lead over President Joe Biden, who withdrew from the race after it became apparent that his age-related disadvantages were a liability.
Minutes after the news broke, Walz replied on X, saying, “Joining @kamalaharris in this campaign is the honor of a lifetime.” I’m fully committed. Vice President Harris is demonstrating to us the possibilities in politics. It brings back memories of my first day of school. Now, people, let’s finish this! Come along with us.
Later on Tuesday, Harris and Walz will hold their first rally in Pennsylvania. This is the first stop on a fast-paced tour that will take them through this week’s swing states, which include Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina, and Nevada.
Walz has already challenged the Republican vice presidential nominee and will debate Vance if both parties agree on the conditions. During a media appearance, Walz stated, “People like JD Vance know nothing about small-town America,” and a clip of the speech was uploaded by Kamala Harris’s campaign. Hatred is not the issue. It’s not a matter of giving in. There, mind your own damn business is the golden rule. Rural America is being destroyed by their policies. They have caused us to part.
Walz has woven it with the notion of “freedom” that has characterized the Harris campaign thus far, using the “mind your own business” framing. During the campaign, Democrats have focused on rolling back federal protection for abortion, portraying Republicans as the party that is stealing individual liberty. This is a change from the past, when Republicans portrayed themselves as defenders of liberty and painted Democrats as the party of big government.
Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania and a huge favorite in the swing state that the Democrats must win in November, was another candidate that Harris took into consideration. Shapiro, however, was viewed negatively by progressives due to his support for school vouchers and pro-Israel stance, which unnerved teachers’ unions, an important part of the Democratic base.
For his part, Walz received backing from progressives and left-leaning students for his early call for a ceasefire in Gaza, unions for his pro-labor stance, abortion rights organizations (Walz and his wife have also used fertility treatment to have children), and gun safety organizations.
